Property owners have recently experienced increasing instances of vandalism involving the intentional destruction of mailboxes. This destruction is frequently accomplished by crushing in the tops of such mailboxes with baseball bats, pipe sections, wet mops, and the like. Oftentimes the perpetrators vandalize mailboxes by crushing them while leaning out the windows of motor vehicles.
Although mailbox protectors comprising protective cages made of materials such as wood or steel have previously been used to thwart such vandalism, the prior art mailbox protectors are relatively expensive and oftentimes unattractive. Furthermore, the conventional mailbox protectors previously known do not provide any means for identifying the vandals who attack the mailboxes.
Prior art devices for protecting mailboxes are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,107,848; 4,368,842; 3,375,869; 4,813,595; and Des. 305,824.